Forage Crops

Bob the beef

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Scot Borders
15 acre of red clover/ryegrass mix with barley broad cast into seed bed to give a hopefully high protein silage for young cattle
15 acres of samson /hector stubble turnips DD into burnt off grass fir in lamb ewes jan/feb/march grazing
8 acres of green globe turnips/redstart mix DD for store cattle pre xmas grazing
 

Jonny B88

Member
Location
ballykelly. NI
Not many men brave enough to stop growing cereals and grow grass instead. Would crop every acre if land was suitable.
Not many brave enough, myself included, to spend the considerable money to crop land with the hope that the end product will be good enough to cover those costs and leave a bit. Coupled with ground which is dubious in its suitability and in an area of the country not necessarily suited to ideal crop production seals the deal…..not to mention investment required in every area in order to do it 😂😂
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Aye but look at the lifestyle the arable boys have. No fencing, no nighttime nightmare calving, ability to plan days off, only working on good days.......🙄

You don't need breeding stock to have a grazing enterprise. Often it's more profitable to let someone else carry the expense and just have growing/finishing stock.

Relief staff are available. Poly wire is 5p/m.
 

Anymulewilldo

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cheshire
Have most people gone away from kale now or are you guys still seeing people do it? I guess the hybrids are better as you get a bit of regrowth? I used to enjoy growing kale and the hybrids.
We still have kale grown for us too use late on if the ground won’t stand turnips (goes wet late on) and they can get it in early enough.
 

gwi1890

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North wales
Hobson rape and Tyffon stubble tunrips dd last week, samsons or volenda stubble turnips to go in again early august, There’s potential for regrowth with Tyffon apparently, how is this achieved?
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Hobson rape and Tyffon stubble tunrips dd last week, samsons or volenda stubble turnips to go in again early august, There’s potential for regrowth with Tyffon apparently, how is this achieved?

Don’t graze it too hard and back fence to stop them running over it.

There are better options than Tyfon these days, with higher yields and better disease resistance. I didn’t even realise it was still available.
 

gwi1890

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North wales
Don’t graze it too hard and back fence to stop them running over it.

There are better options than Tyfon these days, with higher yields and better disease resistance. I didn’t even realise it was still available.

TBH I just wanted a quick cover to graze as soon as possible in hindsight the leafy turnip Jupiter would have been better.
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Crimson Clover I drilled into grass with some stubble turnips , did not spray it off , not sure if I would do it again but surprised the Clover survived the winter
IMG_20220509_152517.jpg
 

JMTHORNLEY

Member
Location
Glossop
Vetch and Red Clover here to provide a good high protein strip graze for cattle and then back over with westerwolds once they've had away with it. idea being RC will be well established and help the grass (could be totally wrong)

Stubble turnips and rape/kale to go in July on some freshly reclaimed ground I'm not sure will grow anything just yet so with the price of everything I'm keeping it cheap this year and keep cows out as long as poss, they haven't gone out yet
 

Kevtherev

Member
Location
Welshpool Powys
Don’t graze it too hard and back fence to stop them running over it.

There are better options than Tyfon these days, with higher yields and better disease resistance. I didn’t even realise it was still available.
Tyfon still available around £8 kilo so slightly dearer than the hybrid turnips such as Appin or Jupiter.
Always thought Tyfon had fell from fashion some years ago.
Place I worked at grew it regularly in the 90s and calves were always deficient in iodine when their mothers were out pre calving on Tyfon.
(It’s a cross between a Chinese cabbage and stubble Turnip)
 

Rossymons

Member
Location
Cornwall
Have most people gone away from kale now or are you guys still seeing people do it? I guess the hybrids are better as you get a bit of regrowth? I used to enjoy growing kale and the hybrids.

Looking to grow some kale here.

With it being so dry I just want something cheap and cheerful to grow before I have to reseed in the autumn with my herbs.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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